Another Public Lake Needs Your Help!

[Lard Almighty]

Dear NJFishing.com Friends,

As some of you may know, I bought a cabin on a lake in Pennsylvania last year. Alden Lake (Long Pond on maps) means the world to me, as well as the other residents along the lake shore. I came to find out, however, that the lake was recently overrun with hydrilla. For those of you familiar with this particular plant, you are aware of how quickly it spreads, and how thoroughly it can choke out a waterway. At 81 acres and a max depth of 20 feet, it would not take long for the hydrilla to completely take over Lake Alden. Using an expensive chemical treatment process, the hydrilla has been beaten back to controllable levels. However, according to the company that is performing the treatments, it will take at least another five years of aggressive treatments to have any chance of eradicating the hydrilla, and even then there is no guarantee that it will be 100 percent effective.

To make matters worse, even though the lake is public and managed by the PA Fish & Boat Commission, the hydrilla removal falls beyond their scope of management, and they will not perform the treatments themselves, or pay for those who do. That has left it up to the Alden Lake Association to come up with the funds for treatment themselves. In fact, dedicated dues for hydrilla management have been imposed upon the residents, and those fees are currently 175% more than what we pay annually for road maintenance dues. Many residents of the lake are retirees on fixed income, and the additional fees have put a strain on their finances.

As stated before, Alden Lake is a public body of water, meaning ANYONE can fish and boat there. Essentially, the Association is stuck footing the bill for a problem that they did not cause, on a lake that is not exclusive to them.

In order to raise additional funds to combat the hydrilla, the Association has appealed to the public for donations. They have placed literature regarding the hydrilla problem at the public boat launch, and instructions on how to donate to its control. The Association has set up a GoFundMe page for donations to the hydrilla fund (https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-lake...-hydrilla-fund).

I personally feel uncomfortable soliciting donations for a cause that may not directly affect any of you. However, this place means far too much to me to not explore any avenue to fix this problem. That is why I am asking anyone interested in helping this public lake to consider making a donation to the Alden Lake hydrilla fund. You can do so using the link above, or if you would prefer a non-electronic method, PM me and I can get you in touch with someone from the Association to whom you can send your donation. There is no minimum donation amount required.

If you would like a better understanding of the lake and the people who you would be helping, you can visit the lake’s facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/lakealden/), or watch some of the videos on the lake that I have filmed (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...s0RP0cjvO5RY8w).

Thank you for your time and for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Craig

[FASTEDDIE29]

Hey Craig this is happening way to often. Gotta rally the troops all over social media to get this Hydrilla issue under control before it’s too late. Definitely going to take some time and cash! Rally the troops!!!

[Chrisper4694]

i gotta just add something to this... make sure the company is reliable and legitimate in specifically targeting the invasive plants and don't over-kill all the native weeds with it because that will ruin your lake WAY worse than the invasive plants. I've seen a few of my favorite lakes here in NJ destroyed from over killing weeds.

[Lard Almighty]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

i gotta just add something to this... make sure the company is reliable and legitimate in specifically targeting the invasive plants and don't over-kill all the native weeds with it because that will ruin your lake WAY worse than the invasive plants. I've seen a few of my favorite lakes here in NJ destroyed from over killing weeds.

Good point! The chemical being used for treatment, Sonar One (Fluoridone), supposedly only targets the hydrilla. Anecdotally, I can tell that some of the emergent vegetation around the lake (lily pads, pickerel weed, etc.) became stressed, but did not die outright. They have since bounced back nicely since last year's treatment.